UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the G8 summit of the world's top industrialised nations to take measures to combat climate change, warning that inaction would be costly.

In a statement before the G8 summit in June at Heiligendamm in Germany, Ban said the eight participating nations should "devise and implement a long-term global framework to tackle climate change that addresses the needs of all countries".

Ban, who has made global warming and its consequences a UN priority, said Thursday that scientific evidence given recently by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is "unequivocal".

"Its impact is clearly noticeable, and it is beyond doubt that human activities are contributing considerably to it," he said.

He said inaction to address climate change issues would have the potential to undo progress made on human development.

Source-IANS
LIN/V